Vinícius Neves

I was born and spent the first 18 years of my life in Timóteo, in the Region of Steel Valley. I moved to Viçosa, Minas Gerais, to study in Law School. At the University, I got involved in many activities, such as local study groups and student movements. When I graduated, by choice, I returned to my region, always seeking to act and understand the yearnings of the community as a whole. I started and continue to act as a lawyer, a profession in which I realize a purpose of understanding the system, explaining it to the citizen, and striving for it to function in a balanced way. Advocating in an inner city, in touch with people, is a great way to understand the history of individuals, helping them identify their own problems and proposing ways to solve them. I got a master's degree in Public Administration. It was a period of much learning because I spent half the week advocating in my region and the other half in the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, studying the subjects of the master's degree. During this period, I was able to weekly compare the mentality and development of the two metropolitan regions of the State of Minas Gerais. The fruit of the master, as it could not be different, was a study of the collection structure of my city, Timóteo, in comparison to the other cities of the region. Today, besides acting lawyer, I am a university professor, always shaping the classes to understand the subjects that I teach applied to the reality of Steel Valley, besides participating as a speaker of training courses for young leaders and regularly giving interviews on local radio about topics of interest to the region.

Local development. Cities are the places where people are really inserted, life in society and the Public Administration itself are really close and therefore more susceptible to influence and innovations when brought by people within the community.